Blog Post #86 – 4 steps for Conducting an ‘Internal Accident Investigation’

Written by Timothy Bryant 21 September 2010

It is any workplace’s worst nightmare: an injury to a worker while on the job. Yet for all the horror it brings, it is also a disturbingly common event. Employers are required by law to take all steps necessary to prevent their workers from being injured on the job. But what happens if a worker does get hurt?

Because workplace injury is a reality that many employers may face, will face or have faced at some point, it’s wise to have a plan for when an accident does happen, according to OHS legal experts.

The first thing every employer needs to have is an accident plan, says Jeremy Warning, a senior associate with Toronto-based law firm Heenan Blaikie.
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Blog Post #85 – Royal Edge Incorporated and Director Fined A Total Of $44,000 After Failing To Comply With Health And Safety Orders

Excerpt from the Ontario Government’s ‘Newsroom’

Royal Edge Incorporated, a Brampton company that makes edge banding products for materials such as kitchen countertops, was fined $40,000 on May 12, 2009, for a violation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA), for failing to comply with an order issued by a Ministry of Labour Health and Safety Inspector. Royal Edge Incorporated director Peter Boussoulas was also fined $4,000 for failing to ensure the company complied with multiple orders issued by an inspector.

On August 16, 2007, a Ministry of Labour Industrial Health and Safety Inspector visited the Royal Edge factory at 1600 Clark Boulevard in Brampton to conduct an inspection and discovered unguarded rollers on an edging machine and issued an order requiring the company to guard the device by August 20, 2007.
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Blog Post #84 – Failure to Comply May Prove Expensive

Excerpt from the OH&S Canada magazine

Written by Jason Contant – Editor of the magazine

Employers in the Yukon who fail to notify the territory’s workers’ compensation board of their compliance with written safety orders should expect to take it on the chin financially.

Since June 1, employers who do not provide the Yukon Workers’ Compensation Health and Safety Board in Whitehorse with a compliance update by the deadline provided have left themselves open to a financial hit. An immediate $250 penalty will be applied, notes a statement from the safety body.
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Blog Post #83 – Guess? Canada Corporation Fined $50,000 After Worker Seriously Injured

Excerpt from the Ontario Government’s ‘Newsroom’

Guess? Canada Corporation, a national clothing and accessories retailer, was fined $50,000 on May 14, 2009, for a violation under the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) after a worker was seriously injured.

On October 7, 2007, at the company’s Bloor St. W. location, a worker was standing on an eight-foot, A-frame ladder in the storage room, attempting to return a box to the top shelf. The ladder gave way and the worker fell to the floor, losing consciousness and sustaining back injuries.
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